Americans have been enjoying it for years, Canada got it last year, and 43 other countries already enjoy Netflix streaming them entertainment on a daily basis. The UK has seen no such love, but Netflix has finally decided to launch there as well as in close neighbor Ireland.

There’s no firm date yet, but Netflix has put out a release saying the service will arrive in early 2012. We also don’t know what the pricing will be, but a “low monthly subscription” is promised.

Coming off the back of the Qwikster disaster, Netflix needs some good news in the form of UK and Irish consumers welcoming the service and signing up in their thousands. That, of course, will depend on what TV and movie content Netflix can secure for its unlimited streaming service.

Anyone interested in checking out Netflix when it launches next year should head on over to Netflix.com. There you can submit your email address to be informed when it is launching. If you aren’t a fan of Netflix, then there’s still a positive coming out of this launch: it will spur more competition in the UK streaming market and give the big players like Amazon’s Lovefilm service a reason to offer a better deal.

Netflix costs $7.99 in the U.S. Lovefilm offers an unlimited DVD service for £9.99 ($16). If I had to guess I’d say Netflix may match its US price in pounds sterling by launching at £7.99 ($12.75) per month, that way undercutting the competition.